The Modern Political Tradition: Hobbes to Habermas

What exactly is liberty? Where do your rights begin... and end? How is a democracy supposed to work? While the terms and concepts of political philosophy are ingrained in our global consciousness, we often - whether we realize it or not - have an incomplete picture of how those ideas developed, or their intentions and implications. The Modern Political Tradition: Hobbes to Habermas is your opportunity to navigate the labyrinth of Western political and social theory. Guided by award-winning Professor Cahoone, these 36 eye-opening lectures reveal how political philosophers created virtual blueprints of action for leaders to implement - for good or ill. You'll gain not only the tools necessary to comprehend and evaluate the omnipresent language of politics, but also a thorough understanding of the wellspring of thought that has emerged over centuries of political philosophy. Offering impressive breadth and depth, The Modern Political Tradition has a scope you're unlikely to find in a traditional university course. Here, you'll consider a range of fascinating topics such as fundamental notions of freedom and rights, moral realism versus moral relativism, the dangers and advantages of the free-market model of economics, questions of distributive justice and the welfare state, the "just war" theory (which is currently being tested by the war on terror), and the inequality of a policy of "color blindness."